


Academy of the First Civilization

by theFemPrince



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Multi, Rating May Change, because there aren't enough modern au's or school au's, p much everyone is there, ships to be revealed, that was sarcasm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-06 23:25:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3152201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theFemPrince/pseuds/theFemPrince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A private institution located in Montreal, that pretty much nobody knows about except for it's secretive few students. An organization known as Abstergo selectively recruits students from around the world for this school. The campus is divided by some eternal feud. Even the staff members, often being former students, favor one side over the other. All except for the Headmistress and Academic Director, though they quarrel over something entirely different and unknown to most.<br/>Campus life is usually calm- for the most part- but things start to get a little shaky when Desmond Miles enrolls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Students

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike my first work on this site, this one I actually take seriously (gasp) but I've had this AU sitting in my brain for a while. Let's hope I actually keep it up :'D  
> Enjoy!

Desmond was still hesitant on enrolling into this mysterious private school, but he was already getting off the plane in Montreal and had nowhere else to go. In fact, he was kind of being forced into it. That recruiting organization- Abstergo or whatever- was the only thing keeping him out of more trouble.

For a twenty-two year old who ran away from home many years ago, he had a decent life with a sweet job as a bartender. Then that one night, he’d just stepped out for some air during his break, and all of a sudden he was fighting off some thugs with suspiciously high-tech gear. Cops showed up, the bastards ran, and Desmond was the one arrested. If it wasn’t for some old guy named Vidic, he might even be in prison. Vidic had talked with the police, who later freed Desmond on the condition he go to Abstergo’s HQ for “evaluation”. 

It sounded like some psych ward, but when he got there, Desmond was surprised to find it was a modern office skyscraper. They did a couple blood tests, asked him about any known family ancestry- which he withheld some of- and had him do a series of IQ tests and mental training exercises. Desmond had felt a bit creeped out with the situation, but there was an intern there who kept him company from time to time. Her name was Lucy, she was kind and seemed to understand his suspicion yet reassured him that he would be fine. She was somewhere around his age, apparently a student at some private institution, the same one he was now to attend. The only reason he didn’t put up a fight about going into some academy he’d never heard of was because Lucy would be ending her internship and returning for the fall semester. That didn’t change the fact that Desmond also felt weird going into a college environment for the first time when already in his twenties. Again, it wasn’t like he had a better option, so he shrugged off that minor concern.  
After retrieving what little luggage he had, Desmond spotted Lucy in the crowd. She had noticed him as well, and waved him over.

“Lucy? Did you just land too?” Desmond asked as he shook her hand.

She replied, “No I came back to Montreal last week. They asked me if I would come get you and bring you to campus.” She gestured out the doors, “Shuttle is waiting for us.”

He followed her to a grey bus with Abstergo’s logo on it, and they took seats in the mostly-empty shuttle. The only other passengers were a boy with dark skin and long hair, and a cheerful looking young man already looking through a textbook.

Shortly after the bus left the airport, the man with the book spoke up. “Are you all new students as well?” He had an accent that sounded Middle-Eastern.

“Yeah, uh,” Desmond said and awkwardly waved.

Lucy already had his back. “This is Desmond Miles. My name is Lucy Stillman, I’m not new though, just wanted to help my friend settle in.” She smiled to the man and then to Desmond.

-~-

The other passengers began talking. It was the guy a few seats away from him that initiated the conversation. And of course the other two sitting across from him replied. The woman was the only returning student among all of them, and seemed too friendly for his liking.

“I am Kadar Al-Sayf,” the bookworm said. “My brother is already a student at the academy. Maybe you know him? His name is Malik, if it helps at all.”

“Does he have a lot of scars on his left arm?” Lucy asked.

Kadar nodded. “That’s Malik.” Ratonhnhaké:ton had almost been holding his breath, hoping he would be ignored. Then Kadar turned toward him and said, “Hey, stranger. I take it you’re new, too?”

He wasn’t really sure how to respond, so he just nodded and pulled up his hoodie.

Desmond was next to speak. “Um, hey I’m pretty nervous too, man. I think if it wasn’t for my friend here I would be having a rough time.” Ratonhnhaké:ton hesitated to look up. The man continued, “So, maybe it’d be easier if you had some moral support. What’s your name?”

After a pause, he replied, “You won’t be able to pronounce my name.” They all waited for him to say it anyway. Ratonhnhaké:ton sighed in defeat. “You can call me Connor. That’s the name I’m enrolling as anyway.”

The bus was leaving the city, taking the students to the Academy of the First Civilization.


	2. Enrollment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me way too long to get back to this. Will try to be more consistent.  
> Still slow beginning and I apologize, but I am trying to make it enjoyable nonetheless.  
> As always, enjoy!

“I have to get to my own classes,” Lucy said to Desmond after they got off the shuttle. “You should be fine for the rest of today, they’ll keep you busy with introduction stuff. But if you ever do need me, look me up.”

“Look you up on what?” Desmond asked. “I don’t even have a cell phone anyway.”

Lucy gave a short laugh. “Don’t worry, all students get these universal communicators.” She pulled up her sleeve and showed him the gauntlet-looking device on her left wrist. He stared at it in confusion. “You’ll learn how to use it when it’s given to you. See you around,” she patted his shoulder and left.

“She must be into you,” Connor said bluntly. Desmond pretended not to care.

A tall, dark-haired woman approached the three of them. “I thought we would have more students beginning this semester,” she said with a stern expression. “Alright then, welcome all of you to this fine academy. As I’m sure you know, only a handful of young adults around the world are invited to study here. My name is Juno, and I am the headmistress of this academy.”

“Honestly, Juno? You just had to start without me?” Another woman with her hair in a complex bun came over. She leered at the headmistress before introducing herself. “Well, young ones, I am Minerva, your academic director. It will be a pleasure to work with you all.”

First all the new students had to be enrolled into the system. Since there were so few of them for this semester, the process would be much quicker. Juno and Minerva explained that the enrollment would take place as a one-on-one meeting, and that another professor was coming so the three of them would all be taken care of at the same time.

“Alright then,” Juno began as the group neared her office. “I’ll handle Desmond.” The way she said it made Desmond self-conscious, like they expected him to be problematic.

Minerva huffed at Juno, and then cleared her throat. “Mr. Al-Sayf, you will come with me. And, Ratonhnhaké:ton,” Desmond was dumbfounded by how easily the academic director spoke the foreign name which he knew he couldn’t repeat without butchering the language and probably getting decked in the face by Connor, “Professor Davenport will be here shortly.”

Desmond followed the headmistress into her office. He sat down, fidgeting as Juno took her seat behind the desk and typed at the computer in cryptic silence.

-~-

Achilles Davenport arrived moments later and led Ratonhnhaké:ton into a third office. They sat at the desk and Achilles began the system enrollment process.

“Now I already had most of your information on file,” Achilles said. “I do need some basic things still for the system which I was unsure of. Other than that this will be very quick.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton nodded. “Let’s get it done, then.”

“I know you don’t have an official surname, but we need something formal in the system.”

Looking at his feet, Ratonhnhaké:ton held his breath momentarily. “I sort of thought,” he hesitated, “That I would just use yours.”

Achilles looked away from the young man, who was still watching the floor. “It would be best if you didn’t, Connor.”

“Okay then.” He paused, looking around the room as if searching for answers. “I guess I could always just use my father’s. It’s not like anyone would know.”

The older man had a confused expression. “I thought you didn’t know your father.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton gave his answer with eye contact this time. “I’ve never met him. But I at least know his name.” Achilles waited with his fingers hovered over the keyboard. “Kenway. Technically that’s my actual surname.”

“What?”

“K, E…”

Achilles stopped him. “No, it’s alright. Do you also know your father’s first name?”

“Uhh,” he began with a confused tone, “Yeah, it was Haytham.”

“Haytham Kenway…”

“Achilles?”

Professor Davenport stood up. “I’ll be right back, Connor. Just wait here.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton slumped into the chair in defeat as Achilles closed the door behind him. They probably want to try and get a hold of my father, if they can find the same Haytham Kenway that is, he thought to himself. The guy doesn’t even know I exist. There’s no point trying to look for him. I don’t need a father figure, anyway. I’m nineteen and I’ve grown up fine without one.

Several minutes later, he could hear voices approaching. It was Achilles and another man, and they seemed less than friendly with each other. The door opened as the other man said, “Honestly, Davenport, I have a lecture to prepare for my class in two hours.”

“Plenty of time,” Achilles insisted.  
“What’s going on, Achilles?” Ratonhnhaké:ton asked with frustration clear in his voice.

The man spoke up again. “A new student? Whatever may be special about him, my class has pre-requisites and cannot be taken on the first semester.” His voice was accented, most likely British, and had a tone of arrogance. Whatever the reason for his presence, Ratonhnhaké:ton felt he would dislike this man very much.

“Connor,” Achilles said, ignoring the other professor’s comment. “This is one of the academy’s finest,” he punctuated the word with obvious disdain, “Professors, with a focus on human history in all areas.”

“Very well, Davenport,” the man grumbled. He then extended his hand to the boy. “I’m Haytham Kenway; it’s a pleasure.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton stared at the professor’s hand in horror, then looked him up and down, glanced back at Achilles, and finally back to the man who was evidently his father. Finally he spoke, “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to be cynical about the last scene. Sorry (not really).  
> Thanks dearies!


	3. Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still April 1st for me so Muahahaha let me bombard you with feels!  
> I'm keeping sad backstories similar to canon. Also did some wiki checking to make sure I had the little details that I would use all right.  
> I'll try to update more than once a month in the future. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Ratonhnhaké:ton said.

Haytham blinked in confusion, “I beg your pardon? Achilles what is going on here?”

“I’ll leave you two to catch up,” Achilles said, turning to leave the room.

“Achilles wait,” Ratonhnhaké:ton called out as the door shut. He grumbled and buried his face in his hands.

Haytham turned back to Ratonhnhaké:ton, “Apparently you know something I don’t, Connor.”

“Okay, yeah,” the Mohawk boy said. He paused to think of how he should break the news. “Well, about twenty years ago you knew a Native American woman. Her name was Kaniehtí:io.”

The older man’s eyes widened. “Ziio? I- I haven’t seen her since then. How do you know her?”

Ratonhnhaké:ton looked up to his father, “She’s my mother.”

“Oh,” Haytham looked to the ground. It was obvious he still felt for Kaniehtí:io.”

“You clueless bastard,” Ratonhnhaké:ton raised his voice, “I am your son!”

Haytham stood there with his mouth slightly open, unable to find words. He looked back at Ratonhnhaké:ton and swallowed dryly. “I hadn’t known. I wonder why she never sought me out.”

“She wanted to stay with our relatives,” Ratonhnhaké:ton said. “But when I was four they all moved west. Mother and I stayed in New York, she said it was our home. I guess she could have looked for you then, but she chose not to.”

“Where is she now?”

Ratonhnhaké:ton felt a pain in his chest. “Last year, I came home from our neighbor’s house, which was some distance away with our rural community. And as I walked home the sky seamed darker, so I looked up and saw thick smoke. I ran to the house, which was in flames, and my mother was nowhere around.” He paused, holding in his breath to force away his emotions.

His father was kneeling down in front of him now. “She was trapped inside,” Haytham said, less of a question as he realized Ziio was dead.

“I tried to save her. I was eighteen, just out of high school.”

-~-

Desmond and Kadar sat at a bench outside the administration building. They chatted while waiting for Connor to finish and a faculty member to give them the freshman tour.

“Well I agree with you that Abstergo picking you up off the street seems suspicious,” Kadar told Desmond after hearing his story. “Still, you are incredibly lucky to have this opportunity.”

“You think so, huh?” Desmond fumbled with the communicator on his wrist. “How did your brother hear about this school?”

Kadar responded, “Malik and I have a friend with, I guess you could say, connections. Back in Syria, this friend was our neighbor, and he was orphaned at eleven, so he came to live with us. Well one day, when he and Malik had just reached adulthood, he was looking through some of his father’s old belongings. Turns out his father had been a student here long ago. Our parents had always wanted the three of us to leave the Middle East and further our education. With our friend’s family history here and Malik’s exceptional grades, they were invited to enroll the next fall. I had to finish schooling in Syria before following them.”

“You didn’t have to deal with Abstergo then?”

“Relax, Desmond,” Kadar laughed. “I wouldn’t be too worried over them. They have no real presence on campus anyway.”

Connor joined them outside, adjusting his communicator as he walked towards the bench. “Hey,” he said.

Desmond noticed the redness in Connor’s eyes. “Hi, Connor, you okay? Your eyes look kind of irritated.”

“I’ll be fine,” Connor said with a shrug, though he looked at the ground absently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you can see I changed around some of the major events in Connor's life but kept close to timing as far as his age. Mainly having his extended family aka the people of his village leave west at four instead of that being his mother's death. I'm thinking the fire was caused by faulty wiring in the house or such, basically an accident turned tragic. Charles Lee will come up as significant in his backstory though. And I had to reference the Assassin's Creed: Secret Crusade book for Kadar's little bit, mainly trying to remember what age Altair was when his father was killed. If you haven't read Secret Crusade, holy crap it adds more info on the beef Abbas had with Altair and more early-childhood and later-age stuff and also covers the events of the PSP game Bloodlines.  
> Sorry this chapter was a bit short :s


	4. Start of Semester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not even a full 24 hours later and I'm pumping out another chapter! I feel so accomplished!  
> So yeah time to see some other students and get their stories going.  
> Thanks and enjoy!

The communicator on Desmond’s wrist beeped softly as he left the classroom. It was a message from Lucy.

LStillman: Hi Des! How was your first day of class?

Desmond moved to stand by the wall so he would be out of the walkway while he responded.

DMiles: Alright I guess. It felt weird being in a classroom for the first time in basically forever.

LStillman: Well you should come over to the café on campus, I want to introduce you to my friends.

It would be nice to know more people here, Desmond thought. He responded that he was on his way, then pulled up the campus map on the communicator.

Desmond entered the café, which was full of students chatting around tables. He spotted Lucy in the far corner with two other young adults. As he approached the group he observed Lucy’s friends, a red-headed man with glasses and a woman with dark hair peeking out from her grey beanie.

Lucy noticed him from the corner of her eye has he got closer to the table. “Hey, Desmond, these are my peers I wanted to introduce you to. This is Rebecca Crane,” Lucy gestured to the woman.

“’Sup Des,” she said, extending her hand to shake with Desmond.

“And this,” Lucy paused to snap her fingers at the man, who was busy with a book.

The red-head closed his book and extended his own hand in a swift motion. “My name’s Shaun Hastings. Sorry ‘bout that, I was just at a rather captivating part in the chapter.”

Desmond looked at the book as he shook hands with Shaun. “Frankenstein, huh?”

“Yes, you see, I read it as a child, but as you can imagine I was too young to fully understand its themes. My courses are lighter in work load this semester, so I’m going to re-read some old favorites in my spare time.”

“You must be pretty brainy then,” Desmond said.

Rebecca chimed in, “Shaun’s a history nut. If it’s old, he’s all over it.”

“And what do you mostly do, Rebecca?”

“She spends way too much time on the computer,” Lucy laughed.

Rebecca stuck her tongue out childishly at Lucy. “A lot of coding, some web surfing when I feel lazy,” she stopped for a moment to glance around the room. She continued in a hushed tone, “I can hack other students’ communicators, just to fuck around. Not going to do anything involving academics or administration, though. As much as I want to, last thing I need is to get myself noticed by faculty, and the headmistress really creeps me out.”

“No kidding,” Desmond agreed, thinking about Juno’s cryptic way of doing things.

-~-

“Hey nerd, welcome to the Academy of Mystery and Pompous Assholes,” Altair said, ruffling Kadar’s hair.

Malik snorted, “That’s your new nickname for the school?”

“Well it fits. Almost everyone here thinks they’re high and mighty because their families had connections.”

“We’re here because your father was apparently a former student,” Malik reminded him.

Altair retorted, “Except we wouldn’t have known that if his box of old things had never shown up on our doorstep. It’s not like he was around to breathe his legacy down my neck and I’m certain if he was around he wouldn’t have done so anyway.”

“I think you two being a couple has made you hate each other,” Kadar said to his brother.

“This is just how Altair shows people affection, he annoys them,” Malik answered. He then added quietly, “And if you think this is him having an attitude, you have seen nothing.”

“Speaking of attitudes,” Altair interrupted, “I hope that jackass Robert De Sable graduated last semester. He’s been here for as long as I can remember and he always tries to start shit as if he has nothing better to do with his life.”

Malik rolled his eyes. “Altair, you aren’t fooling anyone. You’re hoping he’s still around so you can beat his face in like you said you would last time.”

“He has it coming and you know it.”

Kadar asked, “Brother, he isn’t fighting all the time, is he?”

“Not all the time, Kadar,” Malik patted his younger brother’s shoulder. “Just a bit too often as of late.”

“At least I’m not the one starting it when it happens,” Altair grumbled.

Malik gave Altair a peck on the cheek, “I know you’re not.”

“Gaaaaaayyy,” a distant voice shouted. Altair whirled around to see the source. It was just one of the many rich Italian students at the academy, Borgia was his family’s name if he remembered correctly. He brushed aside the comment, not really giving a fuck what some ultra-Catholic boy thought about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Malik and Altair are boyfriends currently. I was trying to decide after writing chapter 2, do I want fluffy Altair/Malik or the canon yet heartbreaking Altair/Maria. Then I was like, You know what, BOTH. So Maria will appear later in the story and I'll let Altair/Malik run a good course before that happens.


	5. Tensions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I'm still writing this. Thank you for bearing with me as I balance work, school, my relationship, and of course hobbies.  
> Onward!

“Claudia, please hold still, I’m trying to get the angle of your jaw line right,” Leonardo said.

The young woman huffed, “You’re taking too long, and I want to get a cappuccino.”

“Should I go get one for you, principessa,” Ezio asked teasingly.

“Don’t you have any ladies to woo?”

“And leave poor Leo to suffer your impatience alone? How could anyone be so cruel to their friend,” Ezio retorted with exaggerative hand motions.

His younger sister raised her hand to smack him, causing Leonardo to groan in frustration.

“Auditore,” the trio looked towards the voice, seeing Cesare Borgia looking smug.

Claudia lifted a brow, “Which one?”

“Not you, girl,” Cesare rolled his eyes.

“Rude,” Claudia said, slyly biting her thumb at him.

Ezio stood up. “What’s wrong, Borgia? Can’t go a summer without trying to pester us? How ever did you survive without me around since last semester?”

Cesare ignored the taunting questions. “I didn’t know your friends were such queers.”

Leonardo stood up next. “Cesare, you’ve walked in on Salai and I snogging in the bathroom at least six times. How could you not know about my intense homosexuality?”

“Everyone knows you’re really gay, Da Vinci,” Cesare said. “I meant your Middle Eastern friends.”

“Oh, you mean Altair and Malik,” Ezio stated. “Malik’s not as open as Leo, but yeah he’s gay. Altair is bisexual, though. He used to mess around with a lot of girls here, but after his first year he decided to focus a little more on his studies.”

“Unlike someone I know,” Claudia interrupted, glaring at her brother.

“Listen, Borgia,” Ezio said, “There’s a surprisingly high number of Italian students at this school, but only you and your sister really care about Roman Catholic values. Deal with it.”

-~-

There was no answer when Ratonhnhaké:ton knocked at the door to his father’s apartment on campus. He tried again about five minutes after first knocking, and was still standing alone outside three more minutes later. Ratonhnhaké:ton held up his wrist and sent a message to Haytham.

CKenway: Where are you? I’m outside your apartment. I have my bags with me.

Patience didn’t come easy for Ratonhnhaké:ton, but he resisted sending multiple messages. He figured people do not usually answer immediately. Finally he received a reply.

HKenway: Will be there shortly, I was held up by some students.

“Of course,” Ratonhnhaké:ton muttered. His communicator buzzed, it was another message.

KAl-Sayf: Hi, Connor, Desmond, are you both settling in alright?

DMiles: Yeah, Lucy has been introducing me to people. You?

KAl-Sayf: Just been catching up with my brother and his friend.

CKenway: Lucky you guys. I’m waiting around at my father’s apartment and he’s not here to let me in.

DMiles: What? You never mentioned your dad was here. Is that how you got in?

CKenway: No, Professor Davenport was a friend of my mother’s and he got me in. I honestly just found out yesterday my father was here.

KAl-Sayf: So your father is Professor Kenway then? My brother's friend has his class. But I’m confused still, you say you didn’t know he was here. You did not grow up with him then?

CKenway: I just met the man yesterday as I was enrolling.

DMiles: Dude, that’s crazy. If my dad was here I would freak the hell out.

KAl-Sayf: But you would know if your father was here, right Desmond?

DMiles: Yeah well, I haven’t seen my parents in years. I kind of ran away from home when I was 16.

CKenway: There’s more though, right?

DMiles: Yeah… I think this is the creepy school my dad always talked about sending me to. Basically why I took off in the first place.

KAl-Sayf: Well there’s no staff by the surname Miles in the system so I think you’re fine.  
DMiles: Okay, thanks I guess. And good luck, Connor.

Ratonhnhaké:ton closed the chat as he saw his father approaching.

“I apologize for making you wait,” Haytham said, pulling out his keyring and unlocking the apartment door. Ratonhnhaké:ton picked up his bags and followed his father inside. “Your room is the open door down the hall. I haven’t finished moving out the old boxes yet, but it’s only two of them left so you could just leave them out by my door.”

“Okay,” Ratonhnhaké:ton replied. He walked into the spare room that would be his. There was an old desk and a dresser, but no bed.

Haytham walked in, “Don’t worry, a bed frame and mattress will be brought over before too long.” The young adult just nodded, not noticing his father had left the room until he heard the front door being opened. “Connor, come help me bring this in,” Haytham called from the entryway.

Ratonhnhaké:ton walked to the front door, where he saw his father lifting a large box. “Is that the bed already?”

“Yes, I’ve got this here, I need you to bring in the mattress though.”

He stepped outside, on the ground was a clean mattress wrapped in plastic. Ratonhnhaké:ton brought it to his bedroom as Haytham was putting together the frame.

“What did your students need from you, anyway,” he asked his father.

“Actually,” Haytham said, “I was preventing an altercation between two of them.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton chuckled a little. “Third day of the semester and already fighting? I thought this was a more sophisticated school.”

“Small private schools have more issues than you would guess,” his father replied. “Most students are here because their parents were students, and some even their grandparents. Not to mention the staff are typically former students. I work with former peers of mine, and not all of them I got along with. I’m sure you noticed hostility between Davenport and I.”

“So you’re saying the whole campus is basically a bunch of Capulets and Montagues?”

Haytham paused. “Yes, I suppose so. I didn’t know American public schools taught Shakespeare.”

Rolling his eyes, Ratonhnhaké:ton said, “He’s literally the only playwright my high school had us read. And we only read the mainstream works: Romeo, Midsummer, Macbeth.”

“Sounds tedious,” Haytham muttered. “Did you at least read Othello?”

“Nope.”

“Hamlet?”

“If you took theatre class, which I didn’t.”

Haytham looked displeased at that. “I guess if all you knew was Shakespeare you wouldn’t be too interested in theatre. There’s a more contemporary American piece called Trifles, only one act but it was progressive. I’m surprised it wasn’t in the curriculum.”

“I take it you like theatre,” Ratonhnhaké:ton mused.

“My father took me to plays often when I was a boy.”

“And I assume he was a student too.” He received a nod from Haytham at that. “He’s not a Professor though, right?”

His father laughed, “No, your grandfather isn’t here. He’s off exploring the Caribbean again.”

“Again?”

“Yes, Father loves the sea.”

-~-

“The hell was that for, Malik?” Altair rubbed his shoulder, which had been punched with mild force.

“You nearly got in a fight today, and not even a week into classes,” Malik huffed.

Altair’s expression briefly revealed shame. “I guess you heard.” He exhaled heavily. “You’re right, I can’t let Robert get to me anymore.”

“Not to mention it was in Kenway’s class. For fuck’s sake, you should be lucky Kenway didn’t drop you from the class right there!” Malik rubbed his temples, remembering the time he had landed himself on Professor Kenway’s bad side.

“To be fair,” Altair said, “He told Robert, and I quote, ‘I’d have expected better behavior from you.’”

Malik sat down next to his boyfriend. “So what exactly happened?”

“Robert came over to me at the end of lecture while I was putting away my books. He started to say something, and I cut him off with, ‘Look, I don’t have time to indulge in stupid rivalries right now.’ And then he was all, ‘Is your little boyfriend trying to make you more mature? You’re never going to change, Ibn la-Ahad.’ Then he said with this stupid smirk, ‘Once a dog, always a dog.’” His golden eyes looked hollow. “So I shoved him against a desk and then Professor Kenway intervened.”

“That son of a bitch has some nerve,” Malik said. He then pulled Altair into a kiss. “I’m proud of you, though. You had no intention to be involved and you made that clear. And honestly Robert deserved more than getting pushed around.”

Altair grinned, “You know if it wasn’t for staff intervention I would have given him exactly what was coming.”

“I know, my love.”


End file.
